Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2011 Mercury Milan owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Our car suffered loss of power and erratic throttle (surges of forward movement even when foot not on the throttle) several times in January 2017. Car unsafe to drive, would leave stranded in the middle of high-speed traffic on highway. Diagnosed with a bad electronic throttle body by russel and smith Ford dealer in houston, replaced 1/19/17 under "Ford customer satisfaction program 13n03." on 8/28/17 same symptoms occurred, intermittent power acceleration and loss of acceleration while at speed. Taken to brandon Ford (florida) that day, again diagnosed with a bad electronic throttle body, which was replaced. Picked car up 8/31, and within 1 hour we lost power while at speed. While at a red light, car surges forward even with brake pedal applied and no foot on the gas. Have again been told it must be a bad throttle body.
While driving the vehicle a warning came on stating power assist failure. Car had manual steering only. The first time it happened it went away when the car was restarted. No such luck this time, warning stays on and no power steering. Luckily I was on straight roads both times. I see there was a recall on this but the dealership says there is none??
I was sitting at a red stop light, and then the traffic light turned green. I lightly pressed the gas but the car would not go, and all a sudden I looked down and the check engine light is on. I pulled over to the side of the road (while turning hazard lights on), placed car in park, and turned the car off. I turned the car back on (started just fine) and attempted to go again to get to a safer destination (was right in the middle of the intersection). The check engine light remained on and the car would not go any faster than roughly 5 miles per hour. Then the wrench light came on (which apparently means a transmission problem). I pulled the car over again and called for help. Eventually I got the car into a parking lot (meanwhile traveling at about 5 miles per hour and blocking 5 o' clock rush hour traffic). Car had to be towed to nearby shop. …
This happened once several weeks ago with my wife operating the car and newborn in the back. I wasn't in the car so I did not witness the problem. Over the past two days I have experienced the problem first hand several times. Car stops accelerating during normal operation. The check engine light comes on, the accelerator stops working and car begins to idle erratically. The engine does not shut off. Once you coast in heavy traffic to the side of the road, you May turn the car off then restart and drive without issue for an indeterminate amount of time (once it was several weeks, once it was ten minutes). The check engine light will be off and no code will be logged into the computer. I took the car to a mechanic ten minute after an incident and the computer picked up nothing wrong with the car. …
Driving on a straight away the vehicle suddenly makes a noise as if it were shifting very hard although it was not. Immediately lost acceleration and dashboard light illuminates. Pulled vehicle to the side of the road and RPM needle bounced as car lunged but would not accelerate. Called for roadside assistance and my dealer's service department who knew based on my description a possible cause. Vehicle towed to dealer, diagnostics proved throttle body needed to be replaced. Repair made. Research proved that this is a known problem but no recall has been made. It was a very foggy morning and several multi car accidents had been reported. Had I been on busier stretch of road at the time of the break down I could have easily been killed with slowing down suddenly and without any evident cause. A recall should be issued and refunds made to those who have already experienced this failure.
August 2012 - driving approximately 35 MPH and the vehicle suddenly jerked and the safe mode light and engine light turned on and I could no longer accelerate. Put car in neutral, then stopped, put it in park. Turned engine off, then waited a couple of minutes and tried again. It started, but after accelerating past 10 MPH, it did the same thing. After 3 attempts, the vehicle went back to normal driving condition. The engine light went out on its own. July 2013 - driving on the highway with cruise control set to 64 MPH, same thing happened but was quite scary because we were on the highway which was busy and we had to get over to the shoulder and then once we were attempting to accelerate, we had to try to merge with busy traffic. The engine light is on so we were able to have the issue diagnosed and it is a faulty throttle body that needs replaced.
I was driving at about 70 MPH on I-70, when the car lost all engine power, like it died, I was fortunately getting ready to exit, and was in the right lane,so coasted the car off to the side. A wrench light came on, had it towed to dealer, who so far cannot duplicate it or get a code for it to show. He wants to keep it awhile to figure it out. I am advance complaining since I have seen this problem on here for another Milan, and have found the same complaint on this site 21 times for the sister car to this, the Ford fusion. It has been the "throttle body" that was bad on the others. It is very dangerous, whatever it is. Also this car has rolled the windows down by itself, when I have been in a store. It was raining and when I came out both my front windows were down, and interior was wet. They were up , since it was raining,when I locked it and left.
I was driving approx 25mph when my vehicle suddently started jerking back and forth, there was no acceleration, and the wrench light came on. I pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the car. When I turned it back on minutes later, it seemed to be back to normal. I proceeded down the road and made it about 3/4 mile when it did it again, this time in the middle of the intersection. I was able to coast through and pull into a parking lot. The dealer towed it in and said it is the engine throttle body. They state the part is on national backorder until November (3 months away!), with 25,000 cars currently waiting for this part. I don't see how there can be this huge of a problem but no recall yet. Ford really needs to take responsibility for this malfunction.
Two or three times in the last day or two the engine has lost power/died & car would have to be steered to side of road & put in park to be restarted! On at least one of these occasions the car was in traffic at highway speed & could have really been a problem, wife was driving & had grand daughter & great grand daughter in the car with her, from what I can read & find out Ford motor co knows of the problem, but has yet not addressed it, it appears to be a problem with a circuit board on the throttle body. This could potentially be a real bad situation! I think some ones attention needs to be directed to this problem! Why has this not been a recall before some one really gets hurt?
Driving near 55 MPH on local highway and applying pressure to gas pedal to accelerate. Felt and heard a 'clunk'. Vehicle immediately lost ability to accelerate with pressure applied to gas pedal. Exited to shoulder. Noticed yellow service (wrench) indicator light was on. Put the car into park and turned off ignition. Re-started vehicle; service indicator light did not come back on. Put the car into drive and re-entered traffic flow. Did not have an incident in another 30 miles of driving. Took the vehicle to dealer for diagnosis. Dealer diagnosed problem as requiring new throttle body. Very dangerous situation.
NHTSA investigations
Electronic Throttle Body Malfunction
On February 21, 2013, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE13-003 to investigate allegations of electronic throttle body (ETB) failures resulting in sudden reduction of engine power in model year (MY) 2009-2013 Ford Escape, Fusion, Mariner and Milan vehicles.
Engine complaints in other Milan years
Frequently asked questions
How common are engine problems on the 2011 Mercury Milan?
NHTSA has 24 complaints about the engine & cooling of the 2011 Mercury Milan, 13% of the model year's 191 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2011 Mercury Milan engine problems?
No. NHTSA lists no engine & cooling recall for the 2011 Mercury Milan, though it has 7 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2011 Mercury Milan engine problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 47,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.